Top Specialized Reddit IAmA'shttp://www.topiama.com/cat/specialized
The latest Specialized IAmA's collected from RedditSpecialized ProfessionIAmA Rare fruit hunter who travels the world documenting little known and bizarre species of fruit. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6888/iama-rare-fruit-hunter-who-travels-the-world
Hey, Michael Imperioli here. Ask me anything! I just released my first novel and it’s out now! “The Perfume Burned His Eyes” (http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/the-perfume-burned-his-eyes/).

You can also catch me with Zach Braff in the new comedy series “Alex Inc.” Wednesday’s at 8:30PM/7:30PMc on ABC.

]]>Fri, 13 Apr 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionIAm Jessie Kratz, the historian for the National Archives. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6778/iam-jessie-kratz-the-historian-for-the-national
Hi everyone! I am Niall Ferguson. I am the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies, Harvard, where I served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. I am also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. I have written fifteen books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize. I am an award-making filmmaker, too, having won an international Emmy for my PBS series The Ascent of Money. In addition to writing a weekly column for the Sunday Times (London) and the Boston Globe, I am the founder and managing director of Greenmantle LLC, an advisory firm. I also serve on the board of Affiliated Managers Group. My new book, The Square and the Tower, was published in the U.S. in January.

EDIT: And that's it folks. It's 11:02am in Stanford and I have to get back to my day job. Thanks to all of you for really great questions. My RSI is now killing me, but it was fun!

]]>Tue, 06 Mar 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionIamA female hockey referee who has worked all levels of women's hockey, including professional women's hockey and the Canadian Olympic Team. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6761/iama-female-hockey-referee-who-has-worked-all
Hi! As the title says, I'm a female hockey referee. I am 21 years old and I've been officiating hockey for nearly ten years. In the women's game I regularly work in the college/university leagues and the CWHL, the women's professional hockey league in Canada. I have also officiated for the Canadian Women's Olympic Team during their cross-Canada playoffs.

I also work men's hockey, which is substantially harder to move up in, especially as a female. The highest level of men's hockey I regularly work is Major Midget hockey, which is an elite provincial league for 15-17 year old players. I've also attended international tournaments in Canada for men's hockey at the Bantam (13-14 year old) and Midget level.

I work all levels right down to novice/mites/tykes, especially in my hometown. On average I skate 3-4 games a week and otherwise I'm a full time student.

My proof is here: https://imgur.com/a/acEkl I can submit further proof to the moderators such as photos of me on the ice or footage of games I've worked, but as team's logos/names are easy to google and give away my location with, I'd rather not share it publicly!

]]>Wed, 28 Feb 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionI Am Leigh Cordner, the Creative Director of Medieval Times. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6751/i-am-leigh-cordner-the-creative-director-of
This year marks the 65th anniversary of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration as the 34th President of the United States. Not only was he POTUS post WWII but he was a five-star general that led the Allied Forces in D-Day. A humble man who grew up in Abilene, Kansas, Ike worked hard to live a life both as a husband, father, grandfather and President of the United States with a set of morals, integrity and values that he wanted America to represent. The Eisenhower Presidential Museum captures his life from boyhood to Westpoint to General to President. Currently the Eisenhower Foundation is in the planning stages of modernizing the museum and exhibits. The $2.3 million renovation will open on the 75th anniversary of D-Day — June 6, 2019. For more information, visit us at: www.eisenhowerfoundation.net.

Update 2/21/18: When I came back on reddit this morning, I was thrilled to see all of the new comments. It will take me awhile to get through them, as we have the Kansas Governor signing a bill at the Eisenhower Presidential Library today. Also, some of your great questions are better suited for an archivist -- a telling sign we should ask my archivist colleagues from the Eisenhower Presidential Library if they would be willing to conduct a reddit. Thank you all for your interest in Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Eisenhower Foundation! We appreciate your participation in our first-ever reddit/AMA.

]]>Mon, 26 Feb 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionI’m a real estate and personal finance expert and the author of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6749/im-a-real-estate-and-personal-finance-expert-and
My short bio: My name is Thomas Brush, and I've been making games for over 10 years. I just released my first commercial release, Pinstripe, on Xbox and PS4.

]]>Thu, 22 Feb 2018 0:00:00 EDTActor / EntertainerI’m Johnny Bananas, and I’ve won the most seasons of MTV’s The Challenge to date. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6741/im-johnny-bananas-and-ive-won-the-most-seasons-of
Hey Redditors. Johnny Devenanzio aka Johnny Bananas here. You may know me as the life of the party during the 2005 season of MTV’s The Real World: Key West. You may know me as the guy on The Challenge: Rivals III who didn’t split my $250,000 winnings with my friend Sarah. Or you may know me as the guy you hate to love or love to hate or the castmember who holds the record for the most The Challenge wins ever.

You can see me on The Challenge: Vendettas, which airs Tuesday nights at 9pm ET/PT. Watch the trailer here

Had an awesome time answering your questions, most fun I've had with my clothes on in a long time! Catch an all new The Challenge Vendettas tonight! peace out

]]>Tue, 20 Feb 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionIamA Former employee and manager at what was the largest indoor shooting range and gun store in Texas. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6746/iama-former-employee-and-manager-at-what-was-the
My short bio: Had cancer as a baby and now cant walk, been through a lot in hospital and now want questions!

]]>Mon, 19 Feb 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionIAmA designer who created a suit with wheels that allows the user to roll, ski, and ice skate in every position. AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6701/iama-designer-who-created-a-suit-with-wheels-that
My name is Jean Yves Blondeau, also known as the Rollerman, and I created buggy rollin (or “body skating”), a sport that uses a suit with wheels, 20 years ago, and I’m here to answer your questions with help from Atlas Obscura, who wrote about it.

I conducted a study about body balancing sensation and locomotion through space, and my first prototype was to show that it is possible to roll in every position. I use the suit everywhere: People can skate on flat surfaces like a stage, on a halfpipe, downhill in the biggest pass of the alps, or in bob tracks. (Body skating on mountain roads is maybe my favorite.) Over the years, I’ve appeared around the world in advertising and in movies like Yes Man with Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel and CZ12 with jackie Chan.

I had a lot of fun with the suit in the summer, but I wanted to enjoy the winter, too, because I live in front of mountains in the alps. So I created a version of the suit with skis, which has even more potential than on wheels. Two years ago, I started to use the suit on ice.

My work has many purposes. I hope my creation will be an inspiration for other artists, and I want to develop the armor as a sport that everyone can enjoy. For that, I need to finance and produce and sell a large quantity of suits.

I try to gather all people around the world who already have the suit in a federation in order organise our events and get together to share, enjoy, and level up in camps. So we have a group on Facebook.

Last year, everyone came to my house for 10 days to learn buggy rollin, starting with indoor basic skills, then going to city parks, hills, ski resort roads and finishing on bob tracks. The idea was to progress all together (and enjoy a nice event). This year it will take place in the summer, but we have not fixed the time and location yet.

For years, my family have been torn apart by the repercussions of domestic violence. For the past few months, I've been struggling to accept the reality of our situation. It's 11 years on, and I often feel like a failure because I still feel no closure after everything that has happened.When I was at school, teachers that were aware of what was going on would tell me that one day I would end up writing a book or doing something positive with my own experience. As the years have progressed, this has become harder and harder to motivate myself towards. I have had numerous conversations with social work regarding my concerns, written a lot of letters and even started a petition at one point. Each time, I have been pushed back or made to feel like a crazy and traumatised child. I am an adult now, but after being silenced and ignored so many times, it has become harder and harder to fight back and I have questioned my own sanity over the years.

1,031,120 - is the number of domestic violence incidents reported in England and Wales during 2016. Just ONE year. I’m always uncomfortable sharing personal things, but when there’s a chance to make a difference and bring about change by telling a story I think that’s more important than my own fears. Some of you might remember a petition I created years ago, I must have only been about 14/15 at the time. My brother, sister and I were placed into the care of my grandmother after living in a home of domestic violence for several years. I started a petition because social work wanted to send my brother and sister back to live with my mother and her partner as they said they had no evidence the violence was still ongoing. The reason they had no evidence it was still ongoing is because my mum was under his control and would cover up what was really happening and I had hoped they would listen to my concerns and acknowledge the risk in sending my extremely young brother and sister back to live in this home. I was thrilled when my petition gained 1495 signatures and a lot of support from the public and messages from people opening up to me with similar experiences.

Sadly, social work ignored my petition and I was told that I could be in trouble with the police for my petition if I didn’t take it down and shortly afterwards social work went through with their decision to send them back to live with my mother and my violent step-dad. As a young teenager it took a lot of courage to speak out and I think having my concerns ignored by professionals for years and years has made me more fearful of speaking out as an adult and eventually I lost faith in social work’s ability to protect children.

Sadly, earlier on this year it was revealed that the violence has in fact continued on for years. However, my mum finally made the choice to leave my step-dad and charge him for everything he has done. The police have had the polar opposite approach of social work. Now there is a chance he may go to prison for the things he has done.I think it speaks volumes about the system that the police can hear about the horrible things this man has done and think there is a chance he could be locked up because he is a dangerous man whereas the social work department seen a suitable home for children.

Their decision to send them back allowed this violence to continue on in the presence of my younger brother and sister for years. It’s time the social work department stop playing happy families and putting their targets/budget before the well-being of the children they are supposed to protect.The whole system is a disgrace and it has taken a lot of courage to share this story but I hope if enough people speak out then it will bring about change and encourage people who have been in similar circumstances to speak out and get angry until it can’t be ignored. If you see/hear something that makes you worry about somebody’s wellbeing then don’t ignore it - report it to somebody.

Things can’t go on like this.I am hoping by starting this blog and sharing my own concerns and experiences over the years, I may not only raise awareness and help someone else but may find some closure through writing about it.

EDIT: Grabbing a cup of tea and then I'll work through all the questions and make sure I answer everything. I'm not feeling well so will be spending the night in bed with my laptop so keep the questions coming, I'll be here all night to get through them. :)

EDIT 2: I am so overwhelmed by this response, I was not expecting this kind of feedback and all of you have made my evening and made me feel even more confident that I'm doing the right thing by starting this website. Like I mentioned in a lot of my comments, I am very new to all this and still getting used to things but I hope you'll all keep up to date with my posts and remember, if there is anything you would like to share then you can get in touch. Also, if anybody has any tips for building up a regular readership, that would be great.

]]>Wed, 31 Jan 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionI'm Buck Taylor, professional submarine pilot. I helped take a sub 1000 meters to the ocean floor in Antarctica for Blue Planet II. Ask me anything.http://www.topiama.com/r/6679/im-buck-taylor-professional-submarine-pilot-i
Hi, I'm a 30 year old guy who went to the doctor around Thanksgiving because I was having trouble breathing. Turns out I had something called "hypertensive emergency" which is when you have blood pressure so high that it causes organ damage. My blood pressure at the time of admission was 210/145. So I was admitted to the hospital under that diagnosis with renal failure, respiratory failure, and heart failure being the three main issues. Turns out the heart and lung failure were not collapsing on their own but were secondary to the hypertension and the kidney failure.

I spent a week in the hospital, including 4 days in the ICU and now everything is back to normal except my kidneys are failed, I need dialysis three times a week, and I need a new kidney. They also diagnosed me as having malignment hypertension (which sounds like something out of the Lord of the Rings, imo) but it basically is hypertension on crack. Left uncontrolled, my blood pressure wants to skyrocket. It happens to one percent of folks with "normal" hypertension -- which I didn't realize I had because I was doing that late 20s guy thing where I didn't go to the doctor. Don't do that, fyi.

I am currently at dialysis getting my blood cleaned of excess electrolytes which will kill you if they build up too much.

proof: here is a picture of my chest tubes pumping out my toxin riddled blood and the dialysis machine pumping back in my slightly less toxin riddled blood.

]]>Sun, 28 Jan 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionHello, we are a few stunt drivers/ stunt people with credits in The Dark Knight, Inception, and many many more. Ask us anything!http://www.topiama.com/r/6661/hello-we-are-a-few-stunt-drivers-stunt-people
Hey Reddit,

]]>Sun, 21 Jan 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized Profession-LiveI am Yousef Badou, a former U.S. Marine and I teach people Behavior Profiling and Tracking-Ask Me Anything!http://www.topiama.com/r/6638/i-am-yousef-badou-a-former-us-marine-and-i-teach
I served for 10 years in the US Marine Corps and then went on to teach at the Marine Combat Hunter Program for the last decade. I just started my own business teaching people to profile behavior in order to proactively look for threats or violence before they happen. I also teach tracking to Police, Fire and Search and Rescue.

]]>Fri, 12 Jan 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionWe are licensed mental health professionals here to answer your questions about Domestic Violence (and other topics) AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6626/we-are-licensed-mental-health-professionals-here
I served as MPP’s Director of State Campaigns from 2015 - 2017, and helped lead successful ballot initiative campaigns in 2016 in Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada. At the end of November 2017, I was named MPP’s Interim Executive Director.

Today, there are reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will rescind the Cole Memo, which provides protections for states with legal marijuana from the federal government. If the Cole memo is rescinded, that would enable federal law enforcement agents to raid licensed, regulated, and tax-paying businesses -- businesses that employ thousands of Americans and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for public services including substance abuse treatment programs and new school construction. Jeff Sessions is ignoring the will of the people and he must be stopped.

I am determined to fight this move, to legalize marijuana, and to remind Mr. Sessions that marijuana must be a states' rights issue. Ask me anything!

EDIT: Hey everyone, I'm signing off. Thank you so much for all the questions. Sorry I couldn't answer everything -- it's been a busy day as you can imagine. Please visit mpp.org to learn more about our organization's work -- we're fighting for medical marijuana and full legalization policies in states across the country, and we're fighting to fix marijuana policy at the federal level. If you can, please consider making a donation to mpp.org/donate Thank you -- Matt

]]>Mon, 08 Jan 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionIamA Head Distiller who makes whiskey, bourbon and other spirits all day! AMA!http://www.topiama.com/r/6616/iama-head-distiller-who-makes-whiskey-bourbon-and
Proof ]]>Wed, 03 Jan 2018 0:00:00 EDTSpecialized ProfessionI am a TSA officer at a large airport outside of DC.http://www.topiama.com/r/6604/i-am-a-tsa-officer-at-a-large-airport-outside-of
I've worked at Dulles International Airpor (IAD) for almost a year. I'm 21 years old and about to get my Bachelors degree in Cybersecurity.